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Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Time for a change!

While I was pregnant with my beautiful daughter Elenore, a few people would ask me if I was planning on using cloth diapers or disposable diapers. Having grown up only exposed to disposable diapers I would quickly rattle off my reasons why I would only ever use disposables. My main argument was that I didn’t have a washer and dryer. The truth was, I knew nothing about them!

I remember the day that I was first introduced to BumGenius. Elenore was 6 months old and I had found a You Tube video that explained exactly how they worked. I was amazed that they were no longer my grandmother’s diapers. From that moment I was hooked! The moment my poor husband came home he was bombarded with information that he really had no desire to ever know. It took me about 48 hours of obsessing before he finally relented and told me that I could have 50 dollars to spend on starting my self a stash. For any of you who know anything about pocket diapers you know that 50 dollars doesn’t get you very far. But like I said before, I was clueless.

I strapped Elenore in the peanut shell and walked the few blocks to my local Eco-Friendly baby store.

Because of my budget I ended up walking away with two dozen prefold diapers at 22.00 a dozen, one Snappi, one Wonder Wraps diaper cover, and a wealth full of information. The clerk tried to convince me that I would need more then one cover but I had a budget! (Little did I know that I would come crawling back to the store only the next morning to buy another Wonder Wraps and a Bummis cover after my darling one decided to have a blow out).

My total expenses to date on diapering are around 85 dollars as opposed to my budgeted 50 dollars a month. We would have spent over 350 dollars in the past 6 months we have been cloth diapering.

Cloth diapering has changed the way I think all together. Where as I would have previously distinguished things like cloth nursing pads and mama rags as “yucky” I now see them as tools to enhance the things I encounter every day! I have no idea how I used disposable nursing pads for so long those things are so scratchy! Using cloth diapers has also opened me up to a whole new group of wonderful mommies I never would have met.

It is amazing how when you step out of your comfort zone you can be opened up to a world of opportunities and friendship.

My advice to anyone thinking about using cloth diapers is to not be afraid! There are so many wonderful moms and dads (!) out there who would just love to answer any questions you might have. Making the change is possible and well worth it!

Wow, that is really helpful that you have a store within walking distance! I would have to drive at least 3 hours to find a store with good cloth diapers! And sometimes it can be harder to buy a new type of product, or decide on cloth in general, without seeing it.

Cloth diapers have saved us so much money and now that we are using cloth wipes too, we are really saving! I love it. Good for you for trying it out and only spending $85, I have spent way more than that!! =)

That's awesome only spending about $85!! I did almost the same at first, but not as good as you - I think I started my stash off with $100 (prefolds & covers). That was a year ago and have of course expanded my stash : )

Wow, $85 is great! I have gone way over my diaper budget because of how addicting it is for me to shop! It's also wonderful to have an eco-friendly store next to you--I have to drive 15 minutes to get to the closest one to me. If there was one closer, I probably would be hanging out there so much people would think that I worked there!

I also started out with a very modest budget. I started with prefolds and covers. I'm just now branching out into AIO's, pockets, and fitteds. There really are so many options out there, and it's fun to try them all out.

only $85 is amazing. i haven't spent anything on diapers yet because all that we've had have been given to us by friends and family (god bless babyshowers!) but with all the wonders of cloth... and the cuteness... and the COLORS and different designs... wow.

Hello Cory and Becca: While we haven't specifically covered exactly how to use a Snappi it's certainly something we can add to the list - we're hoping to add a few of our own how-to videos to the site.

In the meantime here is a post about prefolds in the past: http://www.theclothdiaperwhisperer.com/2009/03/back-to-basics-with-prefolds.html

Great job at sticking to a reasonable budget! Even though I've spent more than that since I'm not interested in prefolds and snappis I know that I will still save money within a few short months and will still be able to sell most of them back after PLing! Can't do that with trash!!

I have a hard time seeing how they will save a lot of money since you have so much washing to do plus the prefolds seem to be the only inexpensive diapers. And if I'm going to do cloth I want to use something a little friendlier. Does that make sense? I really want to do cloth but the initial costs seem outrageous it's been hard for me to get started. That's why I'd love to win one to see if it would actually work for us. Thanks for the post.

I'm totally impressed with $85 - I'm way too addicted to the cute new diapers that come out!! I'm still saving money, but not as much as I could! (But daddy is also afraid of prefolds and snappis - so we have to have some pockets for him to work with).

haha, your husband sounds like mine! i bombarded him too, and he also put me on a budget. oh well... im working on him. he likes the pocket diapers, so he is okay with spending a bit more. though he does an awesome twist fold with our prefolds.

Love the pictures of your daughter. We just had our first daughter (3rd child) and her name is Eleanor too. I still love my prefolds and Snappis too even with my recent venture into the world of pockets.

Wow- I am impressed- $85 is very reasonable for cds. We are also going frugal- we have been given used prefolds and covers. But I spent money for the nb sizes whe he was a nb. I love that we can save money by using cloth.

Yes! Yes! Yes! I totally agree with everything you wrote! I was convinced that, as a working mom, I would never have time to wash out poopy diapers....nor did i want to spend my "at home" time doing so! To my surprise, it takes little extra time to wash diapers and I feel better about washing a load of diapers that taking a load of 'sposies out to the trash! I tell EVERY expecting mommy I encounter about my experience in the hopes that i will convert them! Way to go on the switch! Thanks for the great commentary!

Thank you for a wonderful post!! I have been trying to absorb as much info as I can on cloth diapering, as this will be my first time. I have to be honest...occasionally fear will say "forget it." I don't think I will let it get the best of me...I can't wait to cloth diaper my newest baby (#4) come March!!!